Thawing Cold Fire
by Der Traumer
Summary: Zuko drags a drowning girl from the ocean and takes her prisoner thinking she's a water bender, and the tragic story of her past starts to melt the fire prince's emotionless front.


A/N: Again, this is just a random fic I wrote on a whim and am sharing. Please don't be too harsh on it, though as always constructive criticism is requested.

Disclaimer: Avatar and its cast do not belong to me :sigh:

Claimer: Skii and her past are, however, MINE. :grin:

Warnings: waff, some language, violence, and mentions of adult situations

ENJOY!

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**Thawing Cold Fire**

It was getting harder and harder for Skii to cling to the ice burg. With every slip of her fingers, her head dipped below the water, and with every desperate gasp more salt water seeped into her lungs. Sadly, she realized she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, with every wave that made her grasp falter she knew she was less and less likely to be able to regain purchase.

Tears stung her eyes as the cold started to blur her vision to black. At least she wasn't leaving anything behind…

xxx

"Look, she's awake."

"Do you think she's dangerous?"

The mumbles slowly drew Skii out of her unconscience sleep. She groaned as with her awakening came a dull throb in her head. "Where the hell am I?" she muttered more to herself than to the guards staring into the cell. She examined her surroundings and found them not to her liking. The floor on which she sat was cold and hard, probably stone from the gritty feel of it, though in the dim lighting, she couldn't see. The walls were made of the same material, and the only lighting came in through the metal bars of the door. She was in a prison cell, she realized with a start. That was the last thought she had before the fever caused her to black out again.

xxx

Fierce pain in her side knocked Skii into awareness.

"Wake up!" a harsh voice snarled.

She groaned and curled around her middle, squinting her eyes shut.

"Get up!" This time the blow was to her shins, as they were blocking the booted foot's path to her stomach.

She yelped, and sat up, scrambling away from the abusive feet.

"The prince wants to speak to you!" the voice snapped down at the figure that sat with her knees pulled to her chest, leaning against the wall.

Skii slowly lifted her head off her knees and looked with broken eyes past her abuser to the people standing outside the bars. Another guard in identical red armor to this one stood beside a younger man.

"That's enough now."

Skii searched the words for any trace of emotion, and found none. The voice was cold and blank.

The guard snorted and stepped out of the cell, closing the barred door behind him.

"Who are you?" he demanded, none too gently, as though he was completely unaware of Skii's shivering state on the cold floor.

"My name is Skii," she whispered, unable to muster up the defiance she wanted.

The man opened his mouth to ask another question when a middle-aged woman in flower print red kimono interrupted him. "Why wasn't I informed you had a prisoner?" she demanded, seemingly disregarding that the young man she addressed was royalty.

Both guards opened their mouths to answer, but the woman didn't let them say anything.

"Open the door," she barked at the closest one.

He stammered an apology and fumbled to get the lock.

"Meyumi, I was in the middle of a questioning…" the prince spoke for the first time since the woman's entrance.

"It can wait," she interrupted, "a healer's work must come first, and you know that, Prince Zuko. Besides, how well do you think the girl will answer questions in this state?"

Her argument silenced him and he stood, staring sheepishly at his feet until Meyumi finished her work.

Skii flinched away from the woman's touch as she reached for her forehead.

"I won't hurt you," Meyumi assured, pressing her hand against Skii's forehead and cheeks. The hand was soothingly warm against her freezing skin. Meyumi checked her pulse, and found it racing with fever and noticed also the blue fabric that she had pushed aside to find the girl's arm was damp and cold to the touch.

She stood and glared pointedly at both the guards and Prince Zuko. "This interrogation is finished. The girl has a case of pneumonia. I want her out of these clothes and into a warm bed. The three of you be damned if I have to tell you to get her out of this hell hole." With that she turned to leave.

Zuko spun after her. "Aren't you going to take care of her?" he asked, with about half the force he had wanted.

"No, I have other dying prisoners of yours to take care of. I'm sure you can handle a sick girl, Zuko." She waved a casual hand goodbye without looking back at them.

Zuko turned to look at the girl. Her face was pressed into her knees, and even though the door to her cell was open, she had made no move to leave. "Are you coming?" he asked harshly.

The figure slowly lifted her head again. The man, Zuko, the healer had addressed him, was beckoning her impatiently to follow him. On trembling legs, Skii heaved herself up, using the cell wall for balance. Her vision spun as the blood rushed from her head, and her headache throbbed more fiercely. She tried to step forward, but her blurred vision and weak body wouldn't allow her to. She stumbled and barely caught the wall before she toppled to the ground.

She looked up to see him glaring impatiently at her still. Skii almost wished he would just leave her there, alone with her humiliation.

An exaggerated sigh in her ear started her from these thoughts. "Figures you'd be too weak to walk," he sneered, making the ordinarily sympathetic phrase derogatory. He knocked her feet out from under her, and caught her knees with one arm, while the other caught her shoulders as she toppled over.

Skii was amazed at how warm he was. No one from her village had ever felt this warm. Unconsciously, she found herself snuggling closer to him and letting her head slump against his shoulder.

Prince Zuko nearly dropped the girl in shock when he felt her head rest on his shoulder, and he looked down at her. Her eyes had drifted closed, and her breathing was slowly resuming a normal rate. Even though her cheeks were bright red with fever, her body was cold in his arms. Meyumi wasn't kidding when she'd ordered him to find the girl warmth.

Sighing, he realized the warmest place on this stupid boat was his own bedroom. Not wanting to risk Meyumi's wrath, he brought her there.

He slowly slid his arms out from under her knees and placed her on the edge of his bed. They stared at each other for several moments before Zuko turned to dig through his packs in search of something she could wear. He settled on a pair of worn cloth pants and a cotton shirt. He handed them to her, then turned his back, waiting politely while she changed out of her wet garments.

He flinched, hearing them splish as they fell into a heap on the ground.

After several moments he turned back to her.

Her eyes were drooping closed and she had curled back up around her knees.

"The bed is yours," he told her, shocked by the gentleness in his voice.

Gratitude clearly visible on her face, she crawled beneath the covers. After her shifting to find a comfortable position finished, a barely audible "thank you" reached his ears.

He sighed and tugged a blanket out of his packs and lay down on the rug in front of the fireplace.

xxx

Zuko had almost drifted into sleep on the hard floor when whimpers from the figure on the bed reached his ears. He leapt from his place on the floor and flung himself onto the bed.

Skii had pulled the covers as tight around herself as possible, and now that he was this close he could hear the barely audible chattering of her teeth.

"What's wrong?" he asked more to himself than the girl on the bed. He searched the room frantically. He needed to get Meyumi, but he couldn't leave Skii.

"Uncle!" he hollered, hoping the old man was in his room next to Zuko's.

A large man with a graying beard bustled into the room, still in his nightgown.

"I need you to find Meyumi," Zuko explained hastily, "I don't know what's wrong with her." He looked desperately at the shaking figure in his bed.

Iroh walked calmly to the edge of the bed. "She's cold, idiot," he resisted the urge to knock his nephew on the side of the head.

Zuko suppressed a groan of annoyance. "But, she's not awake."

Iroh reached and shoved the girl's shoulder. She showed no signs of waking up, so he pushed a little more forcefully.

Zuko was watching anxiously. "Now, will you go find Meyumi?" he asked, irritated.

Iroh sighed, and without answering waddled out of the room in search of the healer.

Zuko realized again that he was left alone with Skii.

"Don't leave me!" she cried, and Zuko spun to see she was thrashing violently in the sheets, her teeth still chattering loudly. She was still asleep.

Zuko didn't like her thrashing. She was going to hurt herself. In a last effort he picked her up and clutched her close to him, trying to hold her still.

The thrashing abruptly stopped. He looked down to see her eyes open and vacant. Her trembling hadn't ceased yet, and her body felt unnaturally cold in his arms.

Meyumi and Iroh burst into the room with a bang as the door was flung open hard enough that it slammed into the opposite wall. Meyumi rushed to the bed, sitting on her knees before Skii and Zuko. She waved a hand in front of Skii's vacant eyes, but Skii made no reaction. Muttering under her breath, Meyumi reached into the small black bag she'd brought with her and pulled out several leaves. She crushed and broke them in her palm and waved the mush under Skii's nose.

The cold body in his arms started, and the trembling lessened.

Meyumi again waved a hand in front of Skii's face. The girl blinked several times in confusion, then realized her position and jerked herself away from Zuko, who was happy to let the cold figure free.

"What….?" Skii started.

"You had a bad dream is all," Meyumi informed her gently, "Probably a little bit of post-trauma from nearly drowning. You'll be fine." She closed her bag and headed toward the door. "Stay warm, love," she cooed, waving goodbye. "Take good care of her, Zuko." She winked at him.

Zuko's resumed blank facial expression faltered momentarily.

Iroh yawned. "I'm going back to bed." He left without saying anything else.

Skii was curled around her knees with the blanket wrapped over her shoulders; her chin rested on her knees. She was studying Zuko closely. He glared back at her. "What are you staring at?" he snapped.

She seemingly ignored his annoyance. "Who are you?" she asked softly.

The smallness of her voice when asking made his hard exterior falter yet again. He was frustrated. This girl was doing that too often. "Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation," he answered smugly.

"Is that why you're so warm then? Because you're prince of the Fire Nation?"

"I…uh…" he mentally kicked himself. "What do you mean?" he stammered out dumbly. Why was this this awkward? Why couldn't he just deny her answers like he would anyone else?

"You're warmer then anyone I've ever met," she answered honestly. "The people in my Water Tribe always felt cold."

He supposed the people of the Water Nation would feel cold in comparison to him, a fire bender, but wasn't this girl a water bender? The touch of another water bender should not feel cold to her.

"Aren't you a water bender?" The question slipped out sounding like he was interested as compared to uncaring.

She snorted. "I almost fucking drowned."

He felt foolish for asking, and looked down at his feet, struggling to resume a blank face. "Of course."

She laughed, and his head snapped up. "What…"

"Stop trying to hide behind that stupid frozen mask. I can tell it's not who you really are. There's no reason to act so…"

Suddenly she found herself laying on her back on the bed, Zuko's hands wrapped around her throat, tightening with dangerous speed.

"Don't tell me I don't have to act this way. You have no idea what it's like be hated merely for being!" He tightened his hands, and Skii could see black spots dancing across her vision.

She clawed at his hands to no avail, gasping for breath, but when he spoke her struggling ceased. "Yes I do," she managed to rasp.

Zuko froze, and his hands fell lax when he heard her. This gave Skii enough time to yank his hands from her throat. Still sitting atop her, Zuko asked, "What did you say?"

Skii inhaled deeply, then answered, "I do know what it's like." She was tracing the bruises Zuko had left on her throat absently with one hand and was no longer looking at him. "How do you think I ended up in the ocean? Do you honestly think if I'd fallen in no one would have saved me?"

Zuko's eyes widened in realization. "But why?"

Skii shrugged awkwardly from her position beneath him. "I finally gave them a good reason to, I guess. They'd been out to kill me since I was born. No one in that village cared about me." Her voice choked a little with emotion, and she still wasn't looking at him.

Zuko gently reached and turned her head toward him.

She sneered and closed her eyes. "No Water Tribe wants a fire bender living among them."

Zuko started, "What?"

"I'm the bastard child of a water bender who was raped by a fire bender. I got the wrong half of the genes, and my mother died giving birth to me. Don't tell me I don't know what's it's like to be hated just for being."

Tears were dripping from her eyes, which were closed in shame as she tried to look away from him. After a moment she regained her composure. "So since we're sharing depressing stories, what's wrong with your life?"

The question was so bitter. He backed off of her without answering, then reached and pulled her against his chest. Skii resisted at first, but after a moment relaxed against him. "Don't worry about it," he murmured into her hair, hands stroking her back gently.

Skii closed her eyes enjoying the sensations of the other fire bender's touch. "This is nice," she muttered to him, head resting on his shoulder.

"Mmhmm," he agreed, leaning back against the headboard.

He'd always felt so angry at the world because his father had abandoned him and left him with no one. He looked down at Skii, who was dozing in his arms. He'd forgotten she was still sick. Maybe he and this girl could be alone together. He held her a little tighter to his chest. He never could have expected someone to melt his cold exterior so fast.

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please review!  
another A/N: I have an incomplete sequel to this fic, that I haven't planned on finishing, but if this fic gets enough love :grin: I might finish the sequel and post it here. 

yours  
Der Traumer


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